Sunday, January 22, 2012

This is something I've never undestood. That is, the idea that if you're a parent you should "let your child choose" between being taught religion and not being taught it. Take them to church if they want, why not? See what's out there.

To me, that makes absolutely no sense. Why would you even consider this? Here's a news flash, there may be two sides to every story but they aren't always equal. One of the responsibilities of a parent, in my opinion at least, is to make sure their child is properly educated. I don't consider sending your child to a place where they will be taught that the world is 6,000 some-odd years old, an invisible sky wizard created the universe and everyone becomes birdman when they die, to be seeing to your childs education.

Let me ask you this, would you want your child to be taught that the moon is made of cheese? Would you want them to be taught that the Earth orbits Mars? What about that Albert Einstein invented the wheel? No? Why not? Give your child a choice! Choice is always better... right?

That's my point. Atheists have gotten so "tolerant" that some of them consider letting their children attend church a fine idea, you know, let the child decide. That's absolutely insane to me. You don't get to "decide" the things that churches teach you. So much of what they claim has been disproven and debunked that you're basically sending them to stupid camp for the day. Your are willingly allowing your children to be misinformed and fed lies. I just don't get it.

Listen, I understand that letting your children decide things for themselves is a fine idea, but this just goes too far. This is a choice between knowledge and ignorance. It's no wonder we have a game show that challenges adults to answer 5th grade school questions and below... and people rarely win it. Holy shit, cut this shit out, Atheists.

Friday, January 13, 2012

If you're a gamer of any sort, you probably don't need me to tell you that The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is an excellent game. You've, hopefully already bought it and are playing it right now. Here's my brief review of the game.

Story

The game is set in the fictional world of Tamriel, in the land of Skyrm. You start off, like previous games in the Elder Scrolls series, as a prisoner. You've been caught, for whatever reason, attempting to cross the border from Cyrodiil into Skyrim with some persons of interest. You get caught up in the civil war that's going on in Skyrim between the Empire and the Stormcloaks, are are attempting to gain independence for Skyrim from the Imperials. In the process of your execution, shit hits the fan as it's discovered that dragons have returned and are attacking.

Shortly after, you discover that you are Dovahkiin, translated from the dragon language as Dragon Born. You're tasked with finding out why the dragons have returned after all this time and stopping them. There are a multitude of other story lines that involve the Dark Brotherhood, the Thieves Guild, the Companions and many others if you choose to take part in them.

Gameplay

You have a lot of options with your play style in Oblivion. The three main "types" of character are Thief, Mage and Warror. Skyrim gives you the freedom to mix and match all the skills and traits of these to make your own custom style. Any one-handed weapon or spell can be assigned to either hand and mixed with anything else one-handed. You could, for example, have a dagger in one hand and a spell in another. You could have a spell and shield, a dagger and one-handed axe, a one-handed sword and a spell or any other combination. There are also large two-handed weapons and magic staves.

Combat is fun, regardless of how you approach it. Whether you're sneaking around and stabbing things in the back, throwing spells (which look great, by the way) or beating on things with a giant axe you'll be enjoying yourself. The different combat styles add to the games replayability, as if it needed any help in that department.

Sound

Skyrims sound design is great, from the atmospheric sounds to the beautiful music. Skyrim, like the previous game in the series, Oblivion, is fully voiced. Thankfully, unlike with Oblivion, Skyrim has a larger variety of voice actors filling different roles. This means the voices won't change suddenly between lines. The music was done by the same guy who did the music in Oblivion, so if you've played that you have some idea. Everything is high quality and fits the moods and scenes perfectly.

Replayability
This game is absolutely enormous. I would expect a minimum of 80 hours for your first character. If you spend that long, I can almost guarantee you'll play at least one more character. You'll spend so much time doing and getting quests that you'll start to wonder if it ever actually ends. Even after the quest line that makes up the main story is done, you're free to continue in the world completing other quests and other quest lines. This is not a game you will be "finishing" any time soon.

I'd also like to add that if you have the PC version, the replayability is easily 10x or more than the console versions. Check out Skyrim Nexus for a list of currently available mods, all completely free. If you have a knack for this sort of thing, you could even make your own.

Conclusion

Skyrim is my Game of The Year for 2011 and I would highly suggest you try it, especially the PC version if you have a system that can run it. There's not enough good things I can say about the game, if you enjoy the Elder Scrolls series or just open ended RPGs in general, you must check this game out.

Friday, January 6, 2012

After Rick Santorums positive showing at the Iowa caucuses, Republicans all over are scrambling to look him up on the internet... and then swearing never to do that again. His support then sharply declined.

Televisions Conan O'Brien was found to be leading a poodle smuggling ring alongside his late night TV partner, Andy Richter. Police report that the poodles would be stolen from small girls, their hair dyed a florescent green and would then be shipped to Cambodia. The true intent of the operation has not yet been uncovered. The late night TV duo are expected to face three death penalties and a fifty dollar fine.

Britney Spears announced she was leaving her career as a performer and opening a chain of go kart shops. When asked why she was making this sudden, dramatic change, she said "I just decided follow the one dream that never left me, even after being a performer for so long... children driving. If I can put even one child behind the wheel of a motor vehicle, I'll consider myself a success."

Charlie Sheen, self proclaimed "Warlock" announced yesterday that he is switching his class to Mage. He went on to state "Warlocks are no good for PVP anymore and Mages are always getting buffed." Blizzard Entertainment had no comment.